Sorry about this fuzzy photo of these twin fawns in the shadows I saw at Oxley Nature Center. Of course one was looking away and then they exited to my left to their mother.
Shadowy Twins in the Woods
Tag Archives: Tulsa
WOMPA, WOMPA, and Baseball
The other day, my bride, Heather and I, got all dressed up and went to an event. A gallery opening for a friend of Heather. Not only that the gallery was at a “coworking space.” Doesn’t that sound hip and with it. It is called WOMPA and is located in an old industrial building on the west side of Tulsa. An old factory or something. They wine and finger foods, and art and cool people, “including Heather and I, or at least Heather.”
A coworking space seems kind of like a hangout place. You can pay a fee and hang out one of the sofas, or pay more and get a cubicle or something. More yet and you get your place with a key and you can even live there.
You can have a party or other events there. It’s all cool.
We had a lot of fun!!
And then a day or two after that. Son, Logan, and I went to a baseball game. The Tulsa Drillers. I love live baseball. Nothing better, nothing worse on television though.
A pre-game brew at the restaurant.
We had some great burgers before the game outside the parka and then walked to ONEOK Field.
I even scored the game. I score all the games where I am in charge of when we leave. Nothing worse than scoring starting at the top of the second inning.
And then in the bottom of the 4th the Drillers were behind 9 to zip. Time to go home is what I say. It was pathetic. Sorry Drillers. We’ll be back.
At the top of the stands we saw this beautiful sunset.
On the way out I saw this beautiful blue motorcycle.
So WOMPA was a hit, and the Drillers were a miss!
I am linking with My Corner of the World.
Skywatch Friday – Geocaching, Baseball, and a Mystery
Nowdays I do my geocaching on Sunday mornings. Nobody else is up for hours so I am not missed when I leave. I was chasing one at a children’s playground. I love the tree I found on the way.
The playground was a no go. I think I know where it is but I am not going to look for it when there is even one kid anywhere close to the playground. Time was, when my son was little I would turn him loose in the park and look for the cache. He’s 26 y/o, hates geocaching, loves sleeping in, and doesn’t like playgrounds any longer.
I went to the County Fairgrounds and found a cache associated with this train engine. It was my third try.
I found another one at a church where they had multiple “Little Free Libraries.” They were not just about book but things like petfood, snacks, toys, etc. I thought the concept was pretty cool. Pro hint, the cache was close to these but not in any of them.
And I found a cache associated with this Little Free Library. I have never seen a Midcentury Modern Little Library before. Have you. It was in a section of Tulsa dominated by MCM houses.
And hey, we had Flag Day recently so I got up early and flew my flag. There was only one other person in the ‘hood who flew his flag and it was upside down, on purpose and he flies it every day. I am not sure what that honors.
And for Father’s Day Heather and Logan took me to a baseball game. I am down with that any time.
Nothing better than live baseball. Nothing worse than televised baseball. Do you see a baseball and Civil Rights legend out in left field?
I’ll make it easier on you! That’s Jackie Robinson. One of the benefits of the Tulsa AA Minor League team being associated with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And hey, I promised you a mystery!! Here it is. A herd of blue and grey plywood bison out grazing in the Osage Hills north of Tulsa. More on this to come.
That’s Skywatch Friday for this week!!
Tulsa Tough – 2024 Edition – FC Tulsa Arts District Criterium
Tulsa Tough is a series of bicycle races held in Tulsa every year during a long weekend in June. They have distance races of various lengths over two days. They have a bunch of short races close to downtown called Criteriums where the racers are on a closed course of a mile or two and they go round and round a bunch of times. One races is in the Blue Dome District, one in the Arts District and another on Riverside (Crybaby Hill). They have a bunch of categories from kids divisions to men and women amateurs of various ages and then the professional divisions. They also have a five mile or so “Townie Ride” that is free, so you just show up with your bicycle and ride.
Just the way things have been I always go check out the Riverside criteriums on Sunday. For one thing it is home of the infamous crybaby hill which is more of a drunken party with a bicycle race going on. (Check this link about my first visit to Crybaby Hill in 2015.)
I’ve only participated in one event. That was in 2019 when I rode in the “Picolo” event. The shortest distance event they offer at 32 miles or so. It kicked my butt pretty hard and I didn’t even finish. I was close to the finish line and I passed my car and said, heck with this I’m done so I pulled out of the race, and loaded up my bicycle and went home. Read about it here.
I had a conflict this Sunday so I checked out the Arts District Criterium on Saturday. It’s not near the party but it is still lots of fun.
Oh look at the time! I’ve droned on and on and spent the whole time yakking about me instead of the race I went on Saturday. Figures though, aren’t blogs just about the writer? So I’ll shut and show you the photos I took Saturday afternoon. I had places to be so I wasn’t there very long.
The thing about the criteriums is that riders are all very good and in great shape so they get kind of bunched up. At least right at first and it takes time to separate the faster ones from the slower ones.
I like the intense competition. Everybody is in it to win it and they don’t want embarrass themselves.
And also they are very close to one another. If somebody falls or makes a wrong move then a bunch of people are going down also
So I had found a spot right on a turn where nobody else was so I set up and was taking photos wondering why nobody else was there. Along comes a course marshall and we start chatting and finally ask him if I was okay where I was and he said sure no problem. Then he says hey you know something if you could get your camera down close to the ground and shoot up that might make a more dynamic photo.
So I did experimented with that a little bit with my camera down below the barricade but not intruding on the course and wow. I thought it made a big difference.
I had put the camera on sport mode so when I pressed the shutter it would take a bunch of photos until it buffered out so I ended up with a ton of photos but I only kept a few and am posting just a few of them here.
The guy had a bunch of other tips and then had to go. His last words were you need to remember that the place you are taking pictures from is also a good place to crash and if you are down low right behind the barricade and you get hit, it is going to hurt. I said yep I had already figured that out.
So any way I got to see a great bicycle race and learned something at the same time. And got out unscathed.
How about you? Have you been to any bicycle races lately?
I am linking with My Corner of the World
No Northern Lights for Me!!
Our family flat out missed the northern lights extravaganza last week. We tried but there was too much light here. I had lots of photos from our backyard to the northern sky but none of them showed anything. Oh well, I think there was just too much ambient light to show anything.
I launched my drone and I got some late sunset photos. The drone’s controller was squawking at me the whole time about not enough light, blah, blah, blah. I thought we were masters of our technology but it seems to have a mind of its own sometimes. So the above is the sky to our west.
And this is to the northwest. Waayyy too much light.
We have had lots of weather here. Here is a storm cloud to the east from our gym parking lot. Generally we don’t have to worry about the storm when it is to the east but we do worry about the people who are in its path.
After we went home I launched the drone. It was kind of windy and the drone controller was telling me to get it back because the wind is about to carry it off. That has only happened to me once and I had to do the mission abort thing. It worked it brought the drone back home back against a strong wind. It is almost panic inducing. Anyway, turns out that the storm under the clouds was just rain, no rotation, no damage. Which is good.
So I was hoping for some northern light photos. I saw lots on social media and I feel kind of left out. Some wags who also didn’t have any luck posted their plain pics with some colors obviously added. I thought that was funny the first couple hundred times I saw it.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.
Tired on the Trails – Work Day on Turkey Mountain
Last Saturday a good sized group got together early on Turkey Mountain here in Tusla for a work day. On the agenda was lots of lopping of trees and shrubs along the trail and for the hale and hearty guys and gals some heavy duty dirt work. The Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition and the RiverParks Authority were over the project.
(Note: TUWC photo from their facebook site.)
Me and two others grabbed loppers and headed out to our designated trails. It was hard work especially as the day warmed up and humidity rose.
We ended up lopping on over three miles of trail. Everybody else was tired and satisfied with the work they had done. It was a good day on the mountain.
Linking with My Corner of the World
Aerial Shadows of Tulsa
A drone shot at about 50 meters over the back yard showing the shadows from the fence and trees and on the west side of roofs. The orange square is my takeoff and landing pad. So I am somewhere on the patio next to the landing pad.
View looking west where from the same spot. Maybe 10 meters lower. Showing my neighbors shadows from their trees and fence lines.
And from another day a droneselfie of the drone pilot sporting his brand new Dallas Cowboys hat.
I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday
My Corner – Photowalking Lafortune Park
The other day I was feeling a little owly at the end of the day so I grabbed a camera and headed to Tulsa’s Lafortune Park to walk around it. They have a nice walking track of about three miles which is just right. It winds around a library, a high school, gardens, two golf courses, baseball fields, ponds, and several playgrounds. It’s a popular spot for walking or running in Tulsa and there is always something to see.
The high school has this geodesic dome. I don’t know what they use it for but it is a cool sight.
They also have this sailboat parked next to their band trailer. The boat never moves. I don’t know what the story is.
I captured this golfer out playing a few holes. Back in the day I used to pack up my clubs and go play some. Lots of fun but it takes too much time for me. I already have too many hobbies. Plus I never was any good. I love watching the game on television.
I ran into this trio of friends. They asked if I would take their photo so I did and sent it to them. They said they were going to get enlarged copies for their rooms. It was one of those nice interactions on the trail.
And the back side of a public library. I love the big glass windows and swooping roofline.
So I would have to say that I had a good walk. I captured more images of animals and I’ll be sharing those on Saturday’s Critters later.
Saturday’s Critters – Pelicans and More on the Arkansas River
I went on a bike ride along Tulsa’s RiverParks trails the other day. I took my SuperZoom camera with me hoping that I would see something. It turns out that American White Pelicans were on the river that day. This is a group I spotted near where I started at 71st street. They were on a sandbar near the other side of the river.
Here is a closeup of them. I find them kind of comical on land. They are very graceful in the water and flying.
And here is five miles north at the newly reconstructed Zink Lake Dam. They were paddling around fishing.
Another closeup.
And maybe 50 yards downstream of the dam this group of pelicans and great blue herons were trying their luck in the shallows.
The pelicans and herons seemed to tolerate each other’s presence pretty well.
In the calm waters up stream of the dam a flotilla of geese were cruising.
I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.
Suburban Backyard Critters
The wind blows here in Oklahoma and with a motion sensitive trailcam I can get hundreds of photos of nothing really fast if I point it to a hanging bird feeder or trees. Wind the wind blows I point it at our bird bath or a stationary feeder.
We get a lot of robins showing up for a drink.
And doves
At the stationary feeder we offer whole peanuts and sunflowers seeds. Those are popular with squirrels, grackles,
and blue jays.
Not in our backyard but from the Tulsa Botanic Garden a monochromatic lego lion!!
I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters